Insanitalia
The following information is based off answers given by the creators in a question-and-answer exchange with an anonymous deviant, to be shared with their permission. Insanitalia is a Hetalia fangame created by Espada-Kitsuki (known as Kitsuki) and PrussiaXAustria1000 (Naoto) from deviantART. In 15 August 2013, well before the release of any information regarding the game itself, an Insanitalia Youtube page was formed. In April of 2014, a month and a half before the official demo release, a deviantART group that will contain all future updates was formed: Insanitalia-Project. On 30 May 2014, an alpha demo of Insanitalia was released publicly. The first video on the Insanitalia Youtube page was posted 10 June 2014, an episode displaying the gameplay of the released demo. Game Summary As written in the description of the game, found on the deviation that leads to the direct download: "Insanitalia: An adventure, tension-filled, action-horror genre. You can explore, battle, and make allies and enemies. Story guaranteed to be good. Note: ''Your choices in this game will tailor the story. Trying to build good relationships between characters will increase their functioning as a team and lessen or increase tension between them. A poor relationship may end in injury and disadvantage in certain situations--but at the same time may reveal certain details not otherwise seen. Pick your choices carefully!" As of now, the creators are unwilling to divulge future information, as the alpha demo shows barely a snippet of the story. "The full story," says Naoto, "will be divulged in episodes that will be posted periodically once they are finished. They will be available not only on Youtube, but as a playable section of the game. For now, we leave the story purely to players' speculation." How many episodes there will be has not yet been established. Gameplay As Kitsuki stated, "''It's our job to create a beautiful game for players to enjoy. So, as well as in storytelling ability, we want the game to go all out concerning visuals." Insanitalia plays with basic functions: arrow keys, enter/c, x. It features no special movement, no running ability, and no customized menu, nor does it come currently equipped with a battle system. But the graphics of the game include smaller, cozy maps that are easy to travel. These maps are jam-packed with information, beautiful lighting, nifty functions, and secret easter-eggs hidden around many a corner. As one is able to collect money, we can assume that there will be a shop system in the near future. Characters Hetalia Characters: America'' (Alfred Jones)'' Although the main character of the game itself is not established, America leads the player through most of the demo's gameplay--showing them the sights and the functions of the game's mechanics. He also appears to play a large role in the future story. Italy'' (Feliciano Vargas)'' He appears only briefly in the demo, but he has a much larger role in the game as a whole. Korea'' (Im Yong Soo)'' He appears only briefly in the demo as the only other nation thus far to interact directly with America. It has not been established whether or not he will play a major role in the game. Canada (Matthew Williams) He's literally America's wake-up call. He "appears" in the start of the game, communicating with America briefly by mobile. He also mentions a summit, which may indicate another future setting of the game. England'' (Arthur Kirkland) '' Another character to make contact with America by phone. His words were not revealed to the player, but his call was apparently a great concern to America. Non- Hetalia Characters: Waiter/Bartender He appears in the cafe to serve America and Korea. It's probably the last time we'll see him. Antagonists The main villains of the story have yet to be revealed, but Kitsuki has mentioned the presence of a group of antagonists that will be present in the near-future. Bug Reports/ Errors The game was uploaded in a rush, resulting in many bugs, spelling/grammatical errors, and a lack of flow in the gameplay. Despite the help of beta-testers, more editing was done after the testing, which created careless errors in the programming. The creators were not present for about a week after the upload, which caused confusion as to the solution to the bugs. Afterwards, a version with less bugs was released; however, a vital error froze the game in this version. The final version was posted shortly afterwards, along with a save file (which leads to a scene prior to the bug in the last version) linked in the comments. There were also few spelling mistakes and spriting errors. These mistakes are not fixed in the final game upload, but are rectified on the Youtube channel's first video: a recording of the Alpha Demo. "The demo will be uploaded as a part of the first episode," says Kitsuki, "but there will be tons of features added, including more flow in the actual gameplay." "And''," Naoto adds, "''hopefully more '''interesting' scenes." Trivia/ Extra Facts * The game features many allusions and surprises: including fourth wall jokes and Pewdiepie references. * The original concept of Insanitalia was created in 2012. At the time, Kitsuki was completing work on another game, Ibtalia (not to be confused with Mayburger's Ibtalia). However, that project was cancelled upon realising that kouri, creator of the original game on which Ibtalia was based, did not allow fangames based off of Ib. The project as it is can be found at the deviantART Project-Ibtalia group with the tag line "CURRENTLY ON HOLD". The demo planned for release was never given out publicly. * Whether or not Ibtalia will continue is an unanswered question. Kitsuki mentions that they've been looking for a way to contact kouri--a plan that has yet to wield results for the past year. * Due to being held back by its unfortunate predecessor, Insanitalia recruited its artists only in August of 2013. The new project was headed by Kitsuki, and at that point there was only a very bare plot. * Naoto, Kitsuki's friend and writing partner, was not supportive of Ibtalia due to the nature of the story. * Initially Naoto was against the story of Insanitalia (in his own words when asked to address the original concept: "''I remember sobbing in horror at it.") However, as the concept changed, he took on the role of character designer and eventually become the co-writer and coder for the story and game. * Kitsuki and Naoto still share matching icons to this day. Kitsuki's original username, in fact, was "GermanyXItaly1000", under which she worked Ibtalia and the beginnings of Insanitalia. * Naoto has said that it is "a pain in the ass to have a concept even vaguely similar to Dreamtalia's". As seen in Kyokoon64's Let's Play of Insanitalia, there has been some discussion in the comments that Insanitalia is a "rip-off" of Dreamtalia, or a game that "took the concept of Dreamtalia and made a new game". * This is not true, as the story concept was created before the airing of the first Dreamtalia episode. Kitsuki's idea is more science-fiction based than faerie tale, as is vice versa with Dreamtalia. * In the discussion sections of the Insanitalia Youtube page, there has been talk between the two channels for a crossover event. There is no telling if it might happen or not, but it is a possibility. Notes from the Creators Mostly regarding the '''Making of the game'.'' * Naoto has been described to take on the brunt of the coding, while Kitsuki does script work. Kitsuki says: "He's a foreign speaker, so he uses fancy phrasing sometimes. That's why I don't let him touch the script too much. He does most of the heavy lifting around here: manages the channel and group, codes whatever he can... a lot of drawing for concepts. His graphic work, however... is horrible." * There are numerous members on the project, many of them (not all, as the credits are constantly updating) named on the Insanitalia-Project page. Most of the artists have been members since the beginning of the project. * "We're the writers," says Kitsuki, "and I've been writing forever. So has Naoto. Thanks to Himaruya, we have something to create for and something to be inspired by. But it's not our work alone--it's the work of the artists and musicians... and all the great people who've stuck with us for this. We appreciate them, and '''you, bros, to no end!" '"''This project," says Naoto, "will probably take us a year or more to finish. But for the sake of its players and for Kitsuki's hard work, we plan to make it to the end. So please stay with us until the finish line, players." Gallery Sources